PSU banks, auto stocks drag Sensex by 333 points; Nifty ends below 15,650

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After opening in the green, Indian benchmark equity indices fell in the afternoon session led by sell-off in public sector banks and auto stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 51,941, down 333 points or 0.64%, while the Nifty 50 closed the day at 15,635, down 105 points or 0.67%.

“Domestic market witnessed profit booking due to dull opening of European markets. Global investors remained cautious ahead of European Central Bank (ECB) policy decision and US inflation data to be released on Thursday. ECB is expected to continue its bond-buying policy to support a recovering economy. And US inflation is forecasted to be high but transitory, both these factors, if inline, will provide comfort to the market,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

22 out of 30 Sensex stocks ended in the red with Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries slipping the most, followed by Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

On the upside, PowerGrid advanced 3.42% followed by NTPC, Titan, HCL Tech and Asian Paints.

Buzzing sectors

All sectoral indices on NSE ended in the red, with Nifty Auto, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Realty falling over 1%, each.  While Nifty Metal, Nifty Bank & Nifty Pharma lost up to 1 per cent. Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG slipped 0.31% & 0.23%, respectively.

Broader market

BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap indices both touched a new peak of 23,015 and 25,101 in today’s session. However, due to broad-based sell-off, the pain was visible in small & mid-cap stocks as the BSE MidCap index declined 0.71% to 22,610 and the BSE SmallCap ended at 24,591 after tanking 0.95%.

In today’s session, bears had an upper hand as 1,217 shares declined compared to 713 stocks advancing and 328 scrips remained unchanged on the NSE.

Global markets

Shares in Europe and Asia declined on Wednesday ahead of the latest inflation data from the U.S., which could lead the Federal Reserve to taper asset purchases sooner rather than later. The U.S. consumer price index for May is set to be released Thursday.

China’s factory-gate prices increased at the fastest pace since September 2008, official data showed on Wednesday, while consumer inflation also accelerated but at a slower-than-expected rate.

The producer price index (PPI) rose 9.0% from a year earlier in May, according to a statement from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, a Covid-19 outbreak in southern China is curbing activity at some of the country’s biggest ports, stoking fears that further disruption in international trade risk pushing up the price of its exports. More than 100 new cases have been reported since late May in Guangdong province, one of China’s most important manufacturing hubs, leading to strict counter-measures from the government.

Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session little changed Tuesday as markets digested data showing a lower US trade deficit.

The US trade deficit dipped by $6.1 billion to $68.9 billion in April, slightly larger than expected, as exports rose and imports fell, according to Commerce Department data.